Meiji Nights

Nexterday₂ night, with her parents off in the plane to the conference, Kiko was going Jedi.  Time to live her hidden alter persona.

The flash mob arrives in ones and twos at the Meiji Shrine (Meiji Jingu) Treasure House. To relieve the crowds at the Kanda Myojin Shrine, it now remains open at night.  The videography team releases its camera drones to track the other arrivals and eventually position in a 360 grid around the courtyard. Combined in software with detail shots from each cosplayer’s personal camera drone, Kiko-Lyn will be able to edit a 3D playback. But the gathering must be obscured at its start and the players quick to disperse, as many would take exception to this street performance at the shrine.

The pageant starts with music flowing from the camera droids. A traditional wedding procession marches through the courtyard. Spectators are used to this; it happens every day. The bride is in a white kimono and hood and the groom in a formal black robe, walking together under evening light. But what is this! Shinto priests are not leading this couple; Jedi cosplayers lead the way. Spectators from the crowd suddenly join the procession. The rest of the wedding party trailing behind the couple is now made up as x-wing pilots. Suddenly, a group in the watching crowd throws off their coats and appears as Ronin demons. 

The mock battle dance is on. Everyone is Flow Parkour. The central Jedi is wielding Kiko-Lyn’s staff which bursts into glow as a double lightsaber. She twirls and cartwheels in tumbling runs up and over the wooden shrine walls and buildings. The staff spins in mesmerizing patterns around her arms, her shoulders, her legs, and head. Her companion Jedi flings out a glowing short light saber that seems to spin away and "called by the force" return to his hand.  He is clearly an expert at the illusion "flow wand."

The blaster bolts of the Ronin and the x-wing pilots are simulated by LED illuminated string darts, juggling clubs, and spinning rope poi that flash out and back like blaster fire. Suddenly a dart connects with Kiko-Lyn’s staff and it fractures into a flock of glowing, flying dragonflies. They swirl and flash about her and climb to flock over her head. From her robe, Kiko-Lyn pulls and pops open two large fans which she uses to deflect the dart bolts.  Each time a dart and fan connect, Kiko-Lyn triggers a fireworks display on the fan.  Each fan is an array of flexible liquid crystal video screens.  She spin tosses the fans and they reach out as if to strike at the Ronin leader, flash image an explosion and return, and again. The demon collapses. Quickly the x-fighter pilots finish off the lessor Ronin.  Everyone leaps up and bows and off they quickly scatter through the park.

In the later video editing, they will time blur the flashing of the chromophores above Kiko-Lyn as she dances about the courtyard.  The Kanji will spell out the story and emotions of the players across the top of the treasure house ending with, “May the Flow be with You.” PFM₃. This is Kiko-Lyn’s ninth production but the first ensemble with the help of her Flow Parkour friends. Through YouTube subscriptions and sponsorships she has amassed a respectable, independent source of underground funds and this production should help her set up manufacturing of her new Chromophore Fan flow toy.

Red Pill

The next day Kiko-Lyn is sleeping in when she is awoken by an urgent Call Notification by her panicking parents. She is told that her Aunt Rachael was attacked via the web overnight and has been injured.  She should send a get well message.  Also, they are worried that video bloggers or business rivals of Rachael may seek to get at her through Kiko-Lyn.  They want Kiko-Lyn to go to a retreat hotel in the mountains near Nikko for the week that they are away. Kiko-Lyn agrees in order to calm her parents and thinking the colorful Shinto shrine would make a good backdrop for her next daytime video.

Kiko-Lyn keeps much closer tabs on her aunt than either her parents or Rachael realize. Rachael was no pet parent, but she never went anywhere without her dog Toby. Toby entered Rachael’s life just after Kiko-Lyn went back to Japan; so Kiko-Lyn affectionately thought of Toby as her replacement. Kiko-Lyn had presented Rachael with a prototype robotic harness of her own design for Rachael’s Toby.  When the dog slept, segments of the harness detached from its web and worked at grooming the dog.  When Toby stirred, the segments scampered back to link up on neck and shoulders.  Kiko-Lyn hoped her Aunt would manufacture and release this harness, if its alpha trials with Toby were successful. So far her aunt resisted; saying normal dogs would not be as patient as Toby with the mechanicals.  While not okay with this, Kiko-Lyn accepted a continuing alpha trial, as she had surreptitiously added video cameras and network uplink to the harness segments.  She queried her cloud for yesterday’s video and was appalled at the first person views of Toby taking down the household bots.  Then Rachael flashed into view with a huge head gash and blood everywhere. “Nobody does that to my aunt!” she exclaims.

Jorge will not help her. “I’ve been called off and specifically excluded from involvement by Rachael per ICE restraining orders for her. Stay out of this; it is too dangerous. I’ll engage the Irregulars to help keep watch on any approach to your apartment. Do as your parents say, but ask a friend from the team to go with you to the shrine.” Kiko routinely blogs her life to these friends, sharing her daily life and feelings in an ongoing private blog; as they also do for her.  But she knows in this case these friends will be more loyal to Jorge, their gaming master, than to her. So it’s a solo underground job thinks Kiko-Lyn. She revokes all shared access keys to her cloud life-log and tweets a “on private retreat” message. She shutters at going dark. So she repeats to herself, I’m not a kid anymore.